"Yes," said Victoria.  "He seems to want an ally.  Or perhaps a peer..."

"That's certainly an interesting twist," Carol said.

"It makes some sense, though," said Victoria.  "If he won't regard humans as equals, he must feel very alone."

"We're weren't sure what emotions he was capable of, other than hate," Carol said.

"The next time I meet him, I'll see what I can figure out," said Victoria.  "Was anyone else working on creating an artificial intelligence like that?"

"I imagine so," Josephine said. "But we weren't in contract with anyone while were working on Frank."

Victoria considered.

"...I would have hoped for more potential advance warning of other AIs, but I suppose that's inevitable.  I should look for allies, though.  I can't be everywhere at once, and I'm afraid that Frank very nearly can."

"I suppose you could ask some of the other ones we're working on if you wanted," Josephine said.

"That might be good," said Victoria.  "If there are others who are able to help, I should try and find them, as well."

"I'll have to try and get you some other names. We've been trying to keep our work a bit on the downlow," Carol said.

"I understand," said Victoria.  "Under the circumstances, though, I think we should all be ready to work together."

"That would make sense," Carol said.

"I'm also trying to track unique individuals who are having an impact on society, one way or another," said Victoria.  "High-profile mutants, for example, but I keep finding rumors of others online."

"Well, that should be easy enough to build a simple script that can keep track of that," Josephine said.

"Yes," said Victoria.  "But that's mostly sorting rumors... or do you think I can sort some by reliability?"

"I'm sure one of the A.I.'s we're working on could do it," Carol said.

"Could you arrange a meeting?" asked Victoria.

"Sure, you could come back with us after we head home," Carol said.

"Thank you," said Victoria.  "I'd like that."

"No problem," Carol said.

"...did you have any questions about what I've been doing?" Victoria asked.  "Or any suggestions, for that matter..."

"Frank likely still has an online presence," Josephine said. "Though it's hard to say what exactly he'd be doing."

"Hm," said Victoria.  "Unfortunately, there are any number of transhumanists, nihilists, VHEMT members, technological futurists and so on to be found online; looking in the expected places may not yield obvious signs of his presence."

"True, he may have been trying to stalk you," Carol said.

"That's very possible," said Victoria.  "Unfortunately, I don't know how to determine that.  He's presumably capable of covering his tracks well enough to avoid me detecting him in that way."